The School
by PurpleFanMagic
Summary: The Les Amis de l'ABC was just an ordinary school, old and a little creepy but ordinary, that is until things start to happen in the town of Musain like disappearing children. And a murder? What will happen when a group of friends find out more about their school? Will anyone listen to them? As they start to work out the mystery for themselves they put themselves in great danger.
1. Chapter 1

Les Amis de l'ABC secondary school was an old building, dating back to the Victorian period possibly, no one had really looked into how old the building was or bothered to ask. Its red brick walls nearly covered by the ever-growing dark green moss climbing the many levels of the old school. The inside of the building matched the historic exterior, the long corridors lit dimly by the small rusty lights hanging loosely from the ceiling, the old walls covered by the ugliest shade of green ever to be created. Of course the classrooms unfortunately had the same wall colour but each room managed luckily to hide around eighty percent of the colour by the many pieces of work and posters involving the particular subject that were pinned up. Yes the school was ancient and yes it did not win any beauty competitions but the results they received put them at the top of the list, for ten years now the school had kept their position of best school in the country. This was why so many parents wished for their children to attend, this of course was excellent news for the small town that the school was located in. Les Amis de l'ABC sat at the very top of the town of Musain, it was a good half an hour away from any house or shop by car or school bus. The school had been the biggest asset to the small town for years, after all when you're living in the middle of nowhere you need ways to attract more 'tourists' to the many businesses surrounding the town. It was a chilly December day, and there was a thin layer of snow already on the ground, and the Christmas holiday was looming, multi coloured Christmas lights hung across from the houses while the shop fronts where decorated with trees covered in bells, tinsel and baubles. But the one piece of 'decoration' that was out of place was the many 'Missing Child' posters tapped to every lamp post and fence in sight…

"Dude I'm telling you this year's party is going to be THE one to beat! I will eat my hat sir if it's not." It was already halfway through the schools lunch hour and Courfeyrac's voice could probably be heard from the very opposite end of the school as he was that excited. He was sat with his big group of friends on their usual table outside in the upper college courtyard, they didn't care if it was lightly snowing or that the air was a bit nippy, they just wanted to get away from the horrific green walls that seemed to suffocate them. Courfeyrac leaned back in his chair with a proud smug look on his face, he was in a heated debate with Grantaire about how his end of term Christmas party was going to be way better than the party Grantaire's held the year previous.. And of course Grantaire was defending his own event with his life.

"Okay, firstly you don't even own a hat and secondly there is no way you will be able to obtain as much drink as I did last year, plus we had two policemen knocking telling us to keep it down! You know the rules, if one knocks the party is epic but if two knock… that means its legendary!" He ranted waving his fork in his friend's face. This had been going on since the second the bell went out for lunch and the rest of the gang were more than entertained as they watched the two boys defending their parties. But after twenty minutes they soon found the debate boring and went to to talk amongst themselves. The conversations varied between the members of the group for examples Joly was talking about the state of the school toliets and hygiene to Jehan, why you ask, nobody really wanted to ask.

"Seriously do you have any idea what kinds of germs and bacteria could be spawning and growing in there? For all we know we could all catch a horrible virus that makes us miss the entire Christmas period! Which is dangerous enough if you consider the high possibility of at least three out of the ten of us catching the common cold!" Jehan just sat and listened to the hypochondriac ramble on, occasionally nodding and muttering a response, but in all fairness Jehan was far too distracted in his own work. This work included plaiting Cosette's long blonde hair, weaving snowdrops he had picked from the schools flower bed earlier that day into her long locks. The young girl herself giggled at the poet's pathetic responses and let him continue his work as she snuggled up against Marius, every so often as she listened to him ramble on about his ideas for their holiday plans she would slip her hand into his crisp packet without him noticing.

"Also I was thinking that we could go to the town center and go on the ice rink, after all you still need to teach me how to skate; we don't want another performance like last years." The performance in question being that he let go of Cosette's hand for a quick second and he was flat on his face causing him to have a black eye for weeks. Cosette let out a small chuckle at the memory,

"Don't worry sweetie, this year with my tutelage you will be skating like a pro. I pinkie promise." As the two lovebirds locked fingers their moment was interrupted by a small shriek from Joly,

"Please, please tell me you guys washed hands! It's so easy to pass on germs these days!" this quickly received in a packet of crisps to the face from Musichetta, who although loved the hypochondriac with all her heart had limitations of how long she could stand his rants. Musichetta before turning her attention to Joly was in a deep discussion with Eponine on who they wanted to be cast in the new Wicked movie, as both were major musical fans this particular new movie was important to them both. Well more specifically who they wanted to see as the leading man.

"I'm telling you Chetta, if they do not cast Aaron Tveit as Fiyero I will lose all faith in the world! I mean I have his new album and if he can make a Taylor Swift song enjoyable, then he will do Fiyero the justice we all deserve and more!"

"Oh I know what you mean, plus I would not mind seeing him in those tight pants if you know what I mean!" Both girls erupted into a fit of giggles and carried on debating passionately who would be the perfect Elphaba: India Menzel or Samantha Barks. The last two remaining group members, Enjolras and Combeferre weren't talking. Instead they had their heads down and pens in their hands keeping their reputation of 'Let's do school work instead of creating a social life' alive in the group. Normally the rest of the group would let this nonsense slid but considering the fact that they had only just received the political homework in their last lesson the two boys had a more than just crisp packets thrown at them. Lunch was drawing quickly to its end when another figure entered the courtyard,

"Ah there you guys are, I'm glad I caught you." They all turned to see the owner of the out of breath voice, even Enjolras and Combeferre looked up from their books to be polite. Montaparnasse was heading over to them with a few sheets of paper in his hand, Grantaire was the first to speak, standing up immediately to salute the young man.

"Oh my we are indeed honoured, Head Boy Parnasse wants to talk to us!" he teased giving the boy a cheeky grin, the groups friendship with the young head boy was an odd one, Parnasse was a great friend to them but of course he was not always fond of the group. When the lot of them first stared in their first year of the school, Montaparnasse was not the best pupil: always getting into fights, always behind classes, detention almost every other day. He was nearly expelled due to his record and behaviour, but soon after Eponine knocked some sense into him (half literal half metaphorical) and after the group befriended him his grades quickly got better, his behaviour took a turn for the better and now in their final year he was given the role of head boy. The group was proud of him and thought greatly of him but the look on his face as he now stood before them made them all slightly worried. Parnasse gave a small lighthearted chuckle at Grantaire's salute and before catching his breath,

"I'm not sure honoured is the word you're looking for Taire, it is bad news though I'm afraid. I need to guys to take these home" he passed a sheet of paper to each of them before continuing, "there for your parents, as you know Megan Howell from the year below has been missing for a few weeks now and as a school we want to do everything we can to try and help the police in their investigation. So if you can make sure you show this to everyone you know, it would be a good comfort for her parents knowing the school stands by one of their own."

"Sure Parnasse, we'll do that and if you want I can scan a picture of her and send it to my dad over at Scotland Yard see if he knows anything new about her case." Cosette offered, they all knew about Cosette's family, her biological father Jean Valjean was the most respected figure in Musain, he was always the one to go to if anyone wanted to talk about their troubles as he had a kind heart and the wisdom of man twice his age. Her other father was a highly respected detective inspector who had recently been called for by Scotland Yard for a huge gang related case which involved the famous criminal gang The Patron-Minette. Having two fathers never bothered Cosette and why should it she would always say to those who made pathetic homophobic comments to her face, her life was no different to those who had a mother and father and she received just as much love and affection from both her fathers. Parnasse gave a small sad smile and nodded,

"Thank you Cosette that would be most helpful, well I've got to go hand more of these out, but Courf before I forget I will be able to make it this year just text me your address later." And with that he left the group alone in the courtyard. Five minutes later the bell rang for class and they all took off to their next lessons without saying a word expect of course for Grantaire and Courfeyrac who were still somehow back to their party debate.

It was about six o'clock in the evening and Enjolras was in his marble decorated kitchen plating up his food, he had the house to himself for a week or two while his parents were on a cruise around the Mediterranean, a birthday present for his mother he had surprised her with the month before. He had saved up all of his money from the last year working double shifts at the local café but he knew she deserved a holiday, she had just survived her fight with breast cancer and Enjolras had never been more proud of her. He was slightly disappointed that she decided to take his step-father whom he had never really got on well with as her plus one, but it was her choice and that gave him an empty house so he didn't complain. Once he had plated up his food he placed it in the oven to keep it warm as went upstairs to get changed from the tacky and slightly corny school uniform they were forced to wear into dark skinny jeans and a red shirt (most of his shirts that hung in his wardrobe were a colour mix or either red or black). By the time it took him to get downstairs he heard a small knock at the backdoor.

"It's open" he called from the hall knowing all too well who it was, and it wasn't a surprise to him when he walked into the kitchen to see Eponine sat on the table top with a smirk on her face, her legs swinging in the air. She too had changed from her uniform and was now wearing a white woolly jumper that hung loose over her brown skinny jeans, Enjolras saw the snowflakes resting on her infamous brown cap slowly melting. He remembered the day he gave her that cap for Christmas years ago, she had always moaned and whined that her head was always cold. From then on she had never taken it off not even in the summer. She had already taken off her trench coat and rested it on the stool around the small kitchen island, she quickly noticed he was staring at her for longer than she has expected.

"Are you going to stand there all day gawking or are you going to serve me dinner?" She teased her smirk growing wider as she hopped off the counter and letting her arms wrap around his waist she placed her lips onto his own, Enjolras didn't hesitate in responding, resting a hand on the small of her back pulling her closer while the other found its way to her neck, his thumb softly caressing her check. When they finally parted to breathe Enjolras grinned and answered her question,

"You have actual come at the right moment, dinner is ready." He said as he walked around to get the plates out of the oven, Eponine chuckled and leaned against counter,

"I'm so lucky I found a boy who can cook, and what do we have tonight Mr Gordon Ramsay?"

"Well you know how always say Chinese food is the greatest invention in the history of the world…"

"Which it is!"

"And how I always remind you that-"

"That eating it every night for two weeks straight wasn't the best idea in the world so you made it a rule in our relationship that we can only have takeout food once a week because you're such health freak." Eponine said bluntly.

"I wouldn't say freak but there's nothing wrong in actually eating a piece of broccoli once in a while. Anyway I have managed to combine the two together!" Enjolras said proudly as he placed the two plates on the counter, his own smirk starting to form on his face "Home cooked Chinese food! And I made sure I bought extra fortune cookies as I know that they are your favourite part of the meal." Eponine was speechless, he had put so much effort into this and all she brought over a cheesy DVD to watch and a packet of chocolate MMs (although she had already eaten half of them).

"Oh my god, Enjolras! Have I ever told you your my favourite out of the group!" She teased, jumping up and kissing him quickly on the cheek causing Enjolras to blush slightly, after composing himself he quickly tired to find a way back into the conversation,

"Well I hope so, do you want to eat here or on the sofa?"

"Sofa, and to add to this lovely evening I have brought the best, most classically awesome Christmas film of all time to watch."

"Classily awesome? And what would that be?" To answer his question she took the film case from her pocket and held it up with pride, Enjolras laughed when he saw the front cover.

"A Muppet's Christmas Carol!? Come on we watched that last year and the year before that might I add!"

"Hey! Do not insult this masterpiece! Think of it as the first of many traditions of ours, come on you put the film on while I bring the food in."

They were halfway through the film now, and the ghost of Christmas present who slightly reminded Enjolras of Hagrid from Harry Potter but would never say out loud, was singing his musical number. The plates were now empty and discarded on the coffee table in front of them, Enjolras looked down at Eponine who was snuggled up next to him her head resting on his chest and fingers interlocking with his. She looked so peaceful, happy and it was times like this Enjolras was glad they kept their relationship a secret from the group. He knew that if the group knew they together wouldn't leave them alone, it took them at least five months to stop teasing Marius and Cosette when they finally got together last year after years of constant flirting and stupid little love notes passed around the classroom. So if the group found out how long he and Ep had been together the group would have a field day, without thinking he lowered his head to plant a small kiss on her head but he kept his nose buried in her hair. Eponine sighed and relaxed into his touch

"What's that for?" she giggled with her eyes still on the screen,

"I just can't believe it's been three years. I thought you would get sick of me in the first two months." Eponine couldn't help but laugh, she turned her head slightly so that they were face to face, their foreheads lightly touching,

"Well I was, but then I found out you could cook so I thought to myself 'hey why not stick with this one, maybe he washes up too!' now shall we continue watching, Tiny Tim is about say his famous line!" And with that they continued their anniversary night in, after the Muppet's Christmas Carol Enjolras suggested another film one of their favourites, Love Actually (Enjolras kept that a secret from the gang as well) Enjolras swapped the disks whilst Eponine raided his freezer on the lookout for the cookie dough ice cream. It was a beautiful evening.


	2. Chapter 2

Soon the last Friday of the school year came around and the school was buzzing, the Christmas production Eponine and Musichetta helped organise and direct was a huge hit with the school, Enjolras and Combeferre led the school debating team to win the championship and everyone had managed to finally convince after a week that Joly did not have cholera. So overall they were ending the year on a high. Eponine and Enjolras were in the library studying in their free session or as Eponine saw it one of the only times they could be together without anyone else bothering them. Enjolras decided to at least try and get half of their Christmas work done, as much as Eponine found his need to finish work the second he received it annoying and an overall waste of precious time together, it was a decent idea. With most of her work completed she would have more time to hang out with the others and Enjolras, so she didn't complain, just as Enjolras didn't complain when Eponine used his shoulder as a pillow.

"So…" Enjolras finally broke the silence, there was no one in the room apart from themselves so they could talk as loud as they wanted. "Are you excited for Christmas?" Eponine snorted,

"That's like asking Courfeyrac if he's excited for his party, and I think we all know the answer to that. Speaking of which, you do realise that according to our group's tradition it is going to be us this year!" With the groan that emerged from Enjolras's lips Eponine knew Enjolras wasn't going to like this conversation but she liked to see him squirm.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there," Was his only response on the subject, which only made Eponine's smirk grow. "but I believe right now we should start walking out to lunch, lessons end in five minutes." After packing all their papers and books away they headed out of the library and down the many halls towards the courtyard, there was no forecast for snow today so the tables would not be covered in a sheet of snow. After walking past a small number of rooms the bell rang out for lunch, as if on cue children were running in all directions, heading either to the cafeteria or to the school grounds. Chaos was the best word to describe the scene in Enjolras's mind. Eponine saw Jehan and Combeferre heading out of their French class and called them over to join them.

"So guys, how was French?" Eponine teased knowing all too well that their teacher was an ass.

"Il était ennuyeux comme l'enfer!" Jehan exclaimed pronouncing every word poorly, the boy was nowhere near a tiny bit fluent in the language, he regretted taking the course the only reason he took the subject was so that he could speak 'The language of love' as well as extra credit for his college application. But after finding out who would be teaching the class… lets just say a time machine would be most helpful! "The only phrases that I can barley pick up are what you could say 'colourful phrases', anyway I thought you loved all this French stuff Ep, how come you're not taking it?"

"I'm already fluent in the language my friend, my mother _is_ French remember, she has taught me everything she knows." It was true that out of both her parents Eponine loved her mother the most, she remembered mother-daughter days they spent together when she was younger of making a complete mess of the kitchen when attempting to baking and eating whatever they managed to make. But all that changed when her father's business went down the drain. Mr Thenardier ran the town's only hotel, however after years of trying to wriggle his way out of paying his taxes he lost the hotel due to his debts, the loss of his business was what drove him to the alcohol and on occasion drugs. The line was drawn when one night he had gotten so drunk he came home smashing everything in sight. A young Eponine not realising what was happening had gotten in the way. Her mother immediately called for a divorce and claimed all rights to keep Thenardier as far away from Eponine as possible, as for Thenardier he left the town and found a new life in running the criminal group known as The Paton-Minette. Eponine and her mother now lived in the small apartment above the café, which Madam Thenardier managed to buy out of her own savings. Eponine helped her mother run the place but occasionally part time jobs where offered out to students, just like the one Enjolras managed to get. (After some persuasion from Eponine of course.)

The group carried on walking towards the courtyard, talking about a variety of things when suddenly they heard two loud noises from behind them, they didn't even need to turn around to know who it was of course. In all honesty the majority of the older students knew, the younger years however who were not aware of the two _jokers_ of the school were looking around searching for the bodies that the voices belonged to. Soon enough they emerged, Grantaire was running down the hallway with hysterical Courfeyrac perched on his back, who in turn was waving tinsel and paper chains in the air, as well as clinging to Taire for dear life!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL BITCHES! PARTY AT MINE IN ONE WEEK SEE YOU ALL THERE OR MISS OUT ON THE SINGLE GREATEST NIGHT OF ALL TIME!"

The small group of Eponine, Enjolras, Combeferre and Jehan just stepped back into the lockers and watched the two boys run around the corner, Courfeyrac's voice becoming quieter and quieter by the second. It was Combeferre who was first to make any kind of response.

"They do realise we still have two lessons left until the end of school right?" The rest of them just laughed,

"Yeah but don't tell them, I'd hate to be the one to wipe those smiles of their faces, it's too cute." Jehan argued.

"I can't believe they are that hyper before they've even eaten." Enjolras stated,

"Yeah well that's what we are dealing with, after all they did devour a whole box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts this morning for breakfast." Eponine sighed, shaking her head with a smile on her face.

"WHAT!" All three boys asked at once.

"Yeah, it was a box of twelve. I walk down to the bus-stop with them remember, I tried to stop them but they were having none of it! I was not going to risk getting bitten by either of them."

When the four of them finally reached the courtyard, they saw Grantaire and Courfeyrac tucking into their lunches, Marius and Cosette and Joly and Musichetta were also at the table. Jehan took his usual place between Cosette and Joly before turning to the two jokers watching in amusement at the speed the two were digging into their food. Courfeyrac was now wearing the tinsel he was waving around before as a crown and Grantaire had a new paper chain necklace.

"So, you guys are excited then huh?!"

"Were we not subtle enough?!" Grantaire teased, "Come on it's Christmas and I will not be the humbug of the group. That's normally Enjolras's job." Grantaire joked, looking up at the humbug in question.

"Hey, I'm not a humbug, as a matter of fact I'm very excited for the party this year." Enjolras defended, as he took his seat next to Eponine and Combeferre. Courfeyrac and Grantaire gave each other a knowing look.

"Really?" Courfeyrac asked leaning across the table resting his head on his hands, "Well then it will be a comfort to know then, that me and Taire managed to invite the entire cheerleading squad." Couf added wriggling his eyebrows at an irritating pace.

"Why would I find that comforting?"

"Dude, dude dude dude dude dude…." Grantaire sang out amused at his friend's complete confusion "Our goal, well mine and Couf's goal for this party is to get you laid, and I think we're going to succeed." Everyone around the table snickered at the plan the boys had announced, even Eponine chuckled. After working on the school plays for the last 3 years Eponine had picked up some good acting tips, this meant it was easy for the two of them to keep their relationship a secret. Choosing to ignore Enjolras's glare to keep her eyes on Marius as he too started to speak up.

"Therefore, I would like to place a bet right here right now that Enjolras, our fearless leader Enjolras will get lucky at the party. Drunk or not." Slamming the table for added theatrics, Marius gave Enjolras a wink as he made his declaration, Enjolras didn't want to say it but he really found this whole thing really to be quite amusing, so he joined in.

"How much are you willing to bet Pontmercy?" The entire table went silent, everyone looking at awe at Enjolras. This was going to be fun.

"If we win meaning that you manned to get yourself laid, you will have to drive all of us wherever we want for a whole month. With no complaints." The table all reacted to this in hysterical laughter, Enjolras was the only one of the group who had a car with more tun 2 seats, so this meant lots of opportunities such as coffee and McDonald runs. Enjolras however didn't even flinch,

"Fine, however if I don't 'get laid' which of course would mean I would win. You Pontmercy would have to be the entire groups pack mule for the same amount of time. Whenever we want, wherever we are. In school and out." The group watched the two lay down their rules with some of the weirdest expressions on their faces, if anyone walked into the yard they would think a miracle has occurred.

"Deal!" Both boys stood up and shook hands and returned back to the rest of the group. Eponine just shook her head in laughter,

"Well Marius I think we all know who has the advantage here, we all know Enjolras has absolutely no experience in flirting with the opposite sex. I bet he hasn't even kissed a girl, so god knows how he would attempt to get himself laid." She smirked not even daring to look at Enjolras. One look and it would probably set her into a laughing fit. So he just turned her attention to Joly and Musichetta who were talking about their own Christmas plans.

Lunch came to an end faster than they fought and soon the group departed off into different directions, Cosette and Joly went off to Biology, Marius and Jehan to Maths, Grantaire to Art, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Combeferre to law whilst Eponine and Musichetta walked down to drama. They were halfway there when suddenly Eponine felt her phone go off in her pocket, she opened the text and read what was sent.

 _If I'm so inexperienced at kissing, how come I don't see you complaining?_ ~ Enjy

The text made her laugh a little too loudly,

"What's so funny?" Musichetta asked seeing the girl next to her almost in a fit,

"Nothing really, I'm fine. Come on were late." She didn't want Chetta to ask any more questions knowing too well that she would probably blurt out the real reasons she has been acting 'weirdly' as Chetta had told her countless times over the past three years.

Halfway through the boys law lesson a man in a police uniform interrupted the class, immediately Enjolras and Combeferre looked over to Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac raised his hands in defines stating that it wasn't his fault, at least not this time anyway.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your class boys and girls but this will only take a moment or two," Enjolras felt his phone go off in his pocket but decided not to get it out just yet, "As you are fully aware a student for your school has been missing for nearly a month now. We have been working non-stop to find any new evidence that could be of any use to find Miss Howell. Unfortunately we have not." Enjolras felt another three or four text messages come though, guessing that everyone is probably having the same conversation in their own classes. Again deciding not to pull out his phone kept his attention on the officer standing at the front of the class. "So I am here today to ask, is there anyone here who can remember seeing Megan the day she disappeared, and if so was there anything about that day that felt or looked suspicious? Maybe she was talking with someone you didn't recognise, or she wasn't being herself?" The police officer left a small pause, hoping people would raise their hands, after a while he just sighed "Well if anyone recalls anything we are only a phone call away. Thank you for listening, we will find her, I promise you all this." And with that the man left the room. The classroom suddenly erupted with whispers and words of worry and questions, Enjolras took this time to check his phone and he had missed five messages.

 _What has Courf done now and why was I not informed?_ ~ R

 _Are the police in your lesson too? What's going on?_ ~ Pontmercy

 _Okay it wasn't Courf my bad force of habit, do you believe them when they say they have no new evidence?_ ~ R

 _What's going on why are the police here? I thought statements from students were taken weeks ago._ ~ Joly

 _They've found something, they just don't want to freak us out. What do you thinks happened?_ ~ Ep

The bell rang for last lesson and everyone left their rooms in silence, Joly was right, if the police had already taken statements then why were they back asking more of the same questions? Maybe Eponine was right, maybe they had found something. Enjolras tried to shake the thoughts from his head as he headed to History, Eponine was in the same class maybe she would have some idea.

Eponine was making a quick stop before walking to History, she wanted to get her textbook from her locker knowing that if she tried to borrow Enjolras's again he wouldn't be as nice as last time. Especially not after her comments from lunch. While she was trying to figure out her locker combination to the lock she heard the sound of tiny footsteps.

"Excuse me?" Eponine turned around from her locker to find a worried looking first year looking up at her. "Can you help me?" Eponine knew from experience how scary it was for a first year to attempt to talk to the older students, so she just smiled and nodded,

"Of course sweetie, what's wrong?" the young girl looked quite calm now, grateful someone was nice enough to help her,

"My names Casey, I was waiting for my friend to come out of her lesson but she hasn't and I don't know what to do."

"It's okay Casey I'll help you, who's your friend and where was her last lesson?"

"Her name's Emily and she was meant to have P.E but she hasn't come out of the changing rooms. Everyone else has and they said they haven't seen her." Eponine was shocked about how worried the girl was, maybe the visit from the police officer freaked out the younger years. Those bastards.

"Okay Casey, let's go and she if she's still there, maybe she's trying to bunk her next class. I know when I was in my first year I tried to bunk a lot!" Eponine said with a wink, causing Casey to let out a small giggle.

As they walked down the long corridors towards the changing rooms Eponine couldn't help but shiver, had the heating broke? She knew that the changing rooms were located in one of the oldest parts of the school but come on, could see her own breath for goodness sake. There was no one now walking the corridors apart from them, classes started ten minutes ago so they were going too late, but Eponine didn't care knowing all too well that Enjolras would try and make some excuse for her. It felt weird to be in the corridors alone, it was so quiet that Eponine could hear the drip of water from the toilets across the hall, creating a haunting sound. They had finally walked to the changing rooms, Eponine stood and listened out for any kind of movement but heard none just the drip drip drip of water, she sighed and turned to the small girl hoovering at her side.

"Maybe Emily did come out but you just didn't see her through all the crowds? She could be waiting for you in-" her sentence was cut short however by the flickering of the dim lights. So the heating's out and the lighting is faulty? Seriously what did this school spend there budget on? Eponine sensed Casey shuffling closer to her, the school was dark enough even with the lights on, no wonder she was getting scared. "No she definitely did not come out." Casey mumbled quietly, Eponine just made out the girls words,

"Okay then, let's go see." Eponine took the girls hand and they walked into the girls changing room slowly. The lights kept flickering causing Eponine to get slightly irritated, she felt Casey's grip on her hand become tighter as they finally reached the center of the changing room. From here you could see the inside of the P.E teachers office, the door to the showers and the fire exit.

"Emily?" Was all Eponine could think to say, what else would you say? Suddenly the sound of water dripping became louder, the lights flickered more frequently, Eponine irritation quickly dissolved into fear. What the actual fuck was going on? Her hopes were lifted when suddenly footsteps were heard, getting closer.

"Emily, is that you? We've been looking for you for quite a while, your friend Casey here was getting worried." Eponine spoke directly to the entrance of the office, through the lights flickering Eponine could just make out a small shadow in the office. "Isn't that right Casey?" The lights went out fully and al Eponine could see was darkness, she expected Casey to say something or at least squeal in the sudden change of lighting but when there was no response Eponine looked down, "Casey?"

She was gone.

This was impossible, Eponine was holding her hand, if Casey had let go she would have felt it. Wouldn't she?

"Casey?!" Eponine ran out of the changing rooms expecting Casey and Emily to waiting right outside for her. Hoping that the two girls just got scared of the dark and ran out. It wasn't the case. When Eponine emerged from the changing rooms the halls were empty and there was no sounds of girls running off to class. "Casey? Emily?" Eponine called looking down each hallway. What on Earth just happened? She took one more look behind her when suddenly she shrieked in surprise. The schools caretaker was stood right before her with a snow shovel in hand. Now this was the kind of man that no one wanted to even cross eyes with. The man was in his late fifties, his face pale and haunting covered in small scars that matched the ones on his hands. He always wore his big black trench that covered every part of his body apart from his feet, which were covered by big heavy snow boots. The whole image was terrifying but it was the look in his eyes that scared everyone. It was a look of coldness, a look of anger and rage.

"Why aren't you in class?" Even his voice matched that anger and coldness, Eponine averted her eyes and quietly mumbled

"I was helping out a first year, she was trying to find her friend."

"Yeah well you shouldn't be out here during lessons. Go now before I report you."

Eponine didn't need to be told twice she nodded her head quickly and started heading towards the History block, just before she turned the corner the caretaker called out to her.

"I'd be careful if I were you missy. The school has eyes."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Eponine was more than happy when History was over, not only did she get a stern talking to from the bitch of a teacher but Enjolras kept sending her worried glances from across the room. Clearly he was not satisfied with the excuse of 'I got lost', they had been at the school for five years now she knew the school like the back of her hand. The bell rang for the end of the day and there was there a lot of noise and chaos, students ranging from the first year to the last were running around wishing everyone they saw a Merry Christmas, people were screaming (not singing, screaming) out Christmas songs everywhere you turned, Eponine couldn't help but laugh when she saw Montaparnasse getting pulled away into the ruckus his eyes pleading for help. She shook her head with a smirk and watched as Montaparnasse disappeared down the halls, finally giving in to the festivities.

"Hey can I talk to you?" She heard Enjolras whisper into her ear, she turned around just in time to see the worried expression on his face,

"Yeah sure." She sighed, to be honest she would rather talk to Enjolras about what happened than the others, at least he would have a sensible response. They walked back into the empty history classroom to get away from the growing noise, the teacher was the first to jump ship after the bell rang wanting to get away from the class, therefore they knew they would get no interruptions. Enjolras shut the door and stared at the girl who had now perched herself on the teacher's desk waiting for her to explain herself. After a minute of silence his was slowly losing his patience,

"Ep come on I know you, and you would never miss the first fifteen minutes of a lesson just because you were 'lost'!" Eponine's lip twitched as she watched Enjolras attempted speech quotes. It didn't suit him, but it was cute to see him try. "What really happened?" Suddenly her feet seemed a lot more interesting to look at and with a quiet mumble she started talking

"You're going to think I'm crazy."

"Of course not, you're already crazy enough." Enjolras teased as he joined her on the desk nudging her to continue, Eponine gave him a smirk grateful for the icebreaker and felt a lot more relaxed as she continued.

"Well I was getting my book out of my locker when this first year came up to me, she was worried that she had lost her friend, apparently she hadn't come out of the changing rooms. Anyway I offered to help, we walked to the changing rooms but then the lights went funny, it was freezing, the heating must have gone or something, and for a first year standing in big room alone where the lights are flickering on and off is pretty freaky especially after that visit form the police. I then saw a figure in office so I assumed it was the friend Emily, that's when the lights went out. I looked down to see if Casey- the first year- was alright but she was gone! It freaked me out, only because I was holding her hand the entire time so I would have felt something right? Anyway I ran out and came face to face with the old caretaker, and you know how creepy he is. But the creepiest bit was when I leaving the corridor he- he called to me saying I should be careful because apparently 'The school has eyes." Eponine looked up from her feet to face Enjolras, expecting him to look confused or skeptical but she saw something completely different. His eyes were deep in concentration taking in every word. "Told you I was crazy."

"Ep, that's not crazy. Believe me if Courf or Taire would told me that yeah that would be crazy they would take anything and try to make it into a story. But coming from you isn't crazy, what happened was probably just some kids pulling a sick last day of term joke, their attempt of trying to beat Courf and Taire's at their own game, anyone could easily flicker the lights from afar. As for the caretaker, we've known years that he's creepy, it's just a coincidence he turned up at that point making sure theres no students bunking. Trust me when we come back in January those girls will come up to you and have a good laugh." Enjolras smiled, the whole situation with the missing student was getting to everyone, this had never happened before in Musain, so people were dealing with the situation in different ways, and of course there were some people making sick jokes. He wanted to make sure Eponine wouldn't get to affected by this,

"Yeah, you're probably right." Eponine sighed,

"I always am."

"Hey be careful or I'll have you on dishes duty tonight at the café. Remember your shift starts at six tonight." Enjolras groaned, of course she was 'his boss' tonight he still hadn't gotten used to doing everything she said, he was about to lean in and kiss her on the forehead when suddenly a loud cheerful voice.

"Dudes why are you still here, come on get out of here before Enjolras here starts to become one with the building!" Courfeyrac ran into the room and dragged them out into the hall both Eponine and Enjolras were careful not to look too guilty.

"Enjolras seriously man, you are never going to get laid if you keep hanging around with old Eppy here! You need to go out and find yourself a real girl!"

"Wow thanks Courf, I feel flattered!"

"You know what I mean! Right this is it, were finally free of this hell hole for a few weeks, here take these!" Courf forced a packet of confetti into both their hands. Enjolras was puzzled,

"What are-" His question was suddenly answered by the sight of Jehan upon Combeferre's back throwing glitter in the air and Taire running forward to tackle Courf. When Combeferre finally reached the four of them he dropped Jehan to the floor and just shrugged. Enjolras just stared at Combeferre, waiting for an explanation.

"What? It's Christmas and like Taire said I am not being the humbug this year!"

"IM NOT A HUMBUG!" Enjolras exclaimed ignoring the laughs the rest were attempting to hold back, "You doubt me? I'll show you all." And with that he gave Eponine his bag of confetti and gave her a knowing look "May I?" Eponine smirked and nodded, she jumped up on his back and when she finally comfortable Enjolras ran off down the hall. Courf, Taire, Jehan and Combeferre were frozen in shock but after realising they were stealing the spotlight Jehan got back onto Ferre's back and Courf onto Taire's. It didn't take long to finally catch up with Enjolras (he wasn't that good at running) but Eponine was doing a very good job at throwing the confetti, purposely getting it into people's hair!

A few corridors down Joly was emptying the contents of his own locker, making sure he didn't forget anything like food wrappers that could potentially turn into mould over the holiday. The hallway suddenly started to get louder and louder as children were running down making room and cheering on the stampede that was Enjolras, Eponine, Courf, Taire, Jehan and Combeferre. Joly watched and laughed as Eponine chucked confetti all over him and Jehan as he finished him off with a handful of glitter. Soon the corridor was empty again apart from the few children still at their own lockers. The floors were covered in glitter and confetti, he heard a giggle and looked around to see Musichetta walk towards him brushing off the mess Eponine and Jehan had created off his shoulders.

"I'd never thought I would see the day Enjolras would act spontaneous!" Joly shook his hair knowing that it was full of small pieces of paper and shiny sequins.

"Well with Enjolras you get a blank page, I guess now anything is possible." Joly smirked, he was trying to pick out the remaining confetti shapes from his hair when Musichetta brought her own hand up to meet his.

"Let me." She giggled, Joly took the opportunity he was given with Musichetta being so close and leaned in to press his lips against hers.

"What would I do without you?" He asked after finally pulling away,

"You would still be hiding under the table because three people sneezed around your lunch no doubt, come on I want to get home! The last episode of Graceland's on tonight and I promised Ep I would text her throughout!"

"Fine, fine! I'm done anyway." He said while shutting his locker tight, and after checking his bag one last time took Musichetta's hand and began walking out of the building. Just before they walked around the corner Joly spotted something in the corner of his eye.

"What's that?" He asked stopping in his tracks to look up at the ceiling, Musichetta followed his eyes and soon found what he was looking at,

"Looks like black mould to me."

"BLACK MOULD!"

"Joly, calm down! It's the holidays by the time we get back it will have been dealt with by the caretaker, its his job."

"But what if it doesn't get dealt with and it spreads? Where did it even come from?!"

"The school wouldn't let that happen now come on, or do you want to go to Courf's party without a date?" The look in her eyes told him see wasn't kidding.

"Fine but can I at least report it, they might no know about it?"

"NO!"

Marius was waiting outside Cosette's religious studies class, Cosette had asked her teacher for some extra work and was taking some time asking her questions. Marius just smiled, he hadn't guessed Cosette would be the one asking for more work, he always figured it would be Enjolras. But things are not always what they seem, after all he did just see a laughing Enjolras leading a stampede of all his friends throwing confetti and glitter everywhere. Maybe Grantaire spiked his coffee or something?

"Hey baby sorry you had to wait." Came Cosette's voice from behind him, Marius turned around and pulled Cosette towards him by her waist planting a soft kiss on her lips before answering

"That's okay, I just don't get why you would want more work!"

"There's nothing wrong in wanting to do well. Are you going to the café tonight?" She asked as they began walking down the corridor hand in hand.

"Of course, we need a pre-party meet up after all! And it's Eponine and Enjolras's shift tonight so we get discounts on the drinks!" The halls were empty now, not even the teachers were still in their lesson rooms. "So what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Well my Dad's coming up for the holiday so probably spend some time together as we hardly get to see him. We've invited Eponine and her Mother over for Christmas dinner so that will be fun. What about you?"

"Oh you know the usual, dinner with Grandfather. Try and put on a smile." Cosette gave Marius's hand a soft squeeze, Christmas was always tough for Marius. It was the one time his Father and Grandfather were forced to be in the same room, and they did not get on well. They were close to the buildings exit when the lights flickered on and off. To Cosette's surprise Marius shrieked!

"Pardon me! What was that?!" Cosette asked hiding her smile, Marius blushed and looked straight down muttering a small

"I'm scared of the dark alright!"

"Well that's something new I've learnt about you!" Cosette giggled, "Come on I'll buy you a hot chocolate for being such a brave boy!" She teased causing Marius to blush even more.

"I'm not a brav- Thank you!"

As the pair walked out of the building to meet with the rest of the group the entire school building had been cleared out. All that was left was glitter and confetti in every nook and cranny, and a few notebooks that had been thrown in excitement, there was no doubt that one of them belonged to Grantaire. There was a perfect silence until heavy footsteps broke the silence echoing across the halls, and a dark shadow filled the darkened halls headed deeper into the building not wanting to be seen, shovel in hand.

It was now around seven in the evening and the Café was in full swing, Madam Thenardier left Eponine and Enjolras to take and serve the drinks while she went upstairs to spend some time for herself. The radio was lightly playing Christmas tunes in the background and Eponine whistled to the melody of 'Baby its cold outside'. The Café wasn't as busy as usual just a few couples sharing a romantic cup of coffee and the occasional individual wrapping last minuet gifts while scoffing down a muffin. But the main noise from the Café came from the booth in the back corner where their group had taken full claim over, everyone who walked into the shop knew to never sit in that corner of the room. Eponine was now perched on Taire's lap as she was telling the group of the incident that had happened earlier, she wanted to get another perspective on the whole situation. Just so she was sure she wasn't crazy.

"Nah, Enjolras is right it just sounds like a sick practical joke to me!" Courf said as he took a bit from the choc-chip muffin Eponine had just placed on the table before him.

"Well if it was a joke, that's horrific! What if someone who knew Megan was victim of that?" Cosette stated.

"It's one thing to talk about children vanishing from thin air, but to make a joke about it. It just doesn't sound right." Combeferre added from the corner,

"Exactly! Now you see why I'm kind of freaking out about this! I mean if it was a joke why pull it on me? What have I done? I didn't even know the two kids"

"Forget about it Ep, you'll just work yourself up. Now can we please just talk about how ridiculously nerdy Enjolras looks in that uniform?!" Taire exclaimed looking in the direction of Enjolras who was currently placing cups of coffee at a table on the other side of the room. He must have heard them teasing him as he turned to give them a cold stare trying not to give the group the finger, after all what would the other customers think. In all honesty Eponine thought the uniform was fine, it was just a simple white shirt, black trousers. Yes they had to wear horrible brown ties and aprons that fell to their knees but apart from that…

"Right I better get back to work, does anyone want a refill?"

It was ten to ten and the café was all but empty. The small gang where the only ones left as it was tradition, Eponine and Enjolras were placing the chairs on the tables while the group were putting on their coats and paying their tab for the night.

"Eponine my dear you've out done yourself tonight! Those muffins were divine!" Courf shouted across the room.

"Glad you liked them Courf!" Eponine chuckled, he had eaten at least four over the past three hours so he was more excited than ever.

"Yeah and I'm sorry for Joly asking you about how clean your hands were Enjolras! You know what he's like, needs to know every detail." Musichetta said a little more quietly.

"Its fine Chetta we all know!"

"Well Merry Christmas guys" Cosette called from the door "have a good one this year! Ep I'll see you in a few days. And well I'll see the rest of you at the party!"

"YES COSETTE!" Everyone just laughed as Courfeyrac ran up to Cosette and chucked her over his shoulder, "See guys even Cosette here is hype for the party! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!" And with that he ran out, carrying a squealing Cosette out of the door. Marius said a quick goodbye as he chased after the pair. The rest of them hadn't moved from their current positions still trying to catch their breath when suddenly Jehan squealed!

"OMG OMG OMG!" Everyone looked at him with confusion, he was jumping up and down on the spot clapping his hands together!

"What!?" Taire finally asked, Jehan just rolled his eyes and pulled Taire towards him,

"Okay look over their where Ep and Enjy are-" he started to whisper,

"Don't call me that!" Came a almost angry remark for Enjolras,

"And tell me. You. Don't. See. It!" Suddenly it all made sense and Taire, Combeferre, Joly and Musichetta all giggled. Eponine looked over to Enjolras who was staring towards the ceiling looking annoyed. Eponine looked up as well and soon realised why he was annoyed. Mistletoe. Eponine swore she had taken it all down. But her mother must have put it up again!

"Come on Enjy! This is the first step in the plan to getting you laid!" Taire cheered "If you can Eponine you can kiss anyone!" Both Eponine and Enjolras just stared at Grantaire as he just smiled cheekily at them, behind him the others were chanting them on. Well this isn't awkward at all! Eponine thought. She looked over to Enjolras who just nodded, they leaned in quickly putting on a good show. It was over quickly and felt nothing like all those other times Enjolras remembered, but then the others didn't know about that. Speaking of the others they were cheering and Jehan started bouncing again.

"Alright guys you've had your fun, now get out I need to lock up!" Eponine chuckled, chasing the guys out. Once she was sure they were out of sight she shut the blinds and locked the door, Enjolras started to make his way over to the till and made sure everything was in order when he was tugged from behind.

"Urm, where are you going?" Eponine teased nodding in the direction of the mistletoe, Enjolras soon got the message and pulled her towards him, this time they knew exactly what they were doing. It wasn't awkward at all.


	4. Chapter 4

The next week literally flashed by, Christmas was full of excitement and joyfulness and quickly enough it was New Year's Eve. Courfeyrac's parents had allowed him to have a free house for the party (with a few rules of course) after all all the parents were joining up to have their own celebrations elsewhere. It had become a bit of tradition of sorts every New Years, the kids and parents would always celebrate separately and next day they would spend the day celebrating as a whole family. It would be untrue to say Courfeyrac was more than a little bit excited the second he woke up the morning of the party, a smile never leaving his face, bouncing up and down with joy, it was as if Christmas had come again that year. Grantaire, Jehan and the rest of the boys had offered to help him set up the house, even Enjolras had come round offering a helping hand, doing most of the heavy lifting of the furniture.

"There's no point in trying to get on our good side Enj, we are going to get you laid whether you like it or not, bet or no bet!" Courfeyrac smirked as he pushed open the door merging the dining area with the living room.

"I'm no trying to get on anyone's good side! I just want to help my friend, is that a crime?" Enjolras sighed, he knew he wold regret the day he ever made that bet with Marius! Jehan and Grantaire were pushing the wooden dining table across the floor so it was leaning against the wall,

"Is this where you want the –"

"Yes Jehan thanks it looks awesome, if can go get the stuff from upstairs that would be very handy, its in my room by the door, I'll help you get it all connected!" Jehan, with a light spring in his steps quickly gave a big high five to Courfeyrac before he hurried up the stairs. Suddenly Courfeyrac turned serious.

"Right I know I said I want this to be a big party, but I do need to have some ground rules - also my parents have made me say this or else we don't get to do this again! Ground rule one: no one is to on the third floor, that's my parent's room! And finally ground rule two: If you do get lucky," He know took the opportunity to give Enjolras a wink, "Please be discrete about it and as always leave a piece of clothing on the door handle so we all know!"

"How come you said 'as always'?" Combeferre asked while he sorted out the drinks and food from the kitchen,

"Let's just say Ferre that there are events at your party that is better left unsaid!"

"WHAT!"

"Anyway back to business, the party officially starts at six and will end whenever the last person leaves! Any questions?"

"Y-yes I have one!"

"I'm sorry Ferre but I'm sworn to secrecy."

"But-"

"Leave it Ferre you're getting nothing out of him!" Marius patted him on the back, both boys went back to the kitchen finishing off putting the food out, meanwhile Jehan was bringing down- with a little help from Joly- speakers and sound equipment.

"Right then where do I put these?"

Enjolras and Grantaire watched from the corner as Joly, Jehan and Courfeyrac sort out countless wires and leads, Grantaire chuckled into his second drink of the day when Joly squeaked as the wires wrapped around his neck.

"So what's the plan?" Grantaire asked quietly,

"Well I'll go home at three get something to eat, get changed, pick up the girls and met you guys here around half five."

"That's not what I mean Enjy, what I mean is what is your plan" Grantaire asked whilst wriggling his eyebrows,

"Nothing Taire, I intend to go through winning this bet. I'm not losing my virginity on some drunken one night stand."

"So you admit you're a virgin!" Grantaire spoke in almost a whisper, Enjolras heard the slight victorious tone in his voice.

"Taire, everyone knows. You think I don't know? And to be honest I don't care what they think."

"Alright, no need to bite my head off, I was just asking."

"I'm not biting anyone's head off, I just believe that sex is a lot more than getting drunk and going it in the bathroom or a cupboard!" Enjolras downed his glass of water, placing the glass on the windowsill. Grantaire was shocked, he had never heard or seen this side of Enjolras before, willing to open up about his sex life (or lack of it).

"Then… what do you believe it is about? You never really talk to us about this."

"There could be a reason for that."

"Well then, tell me. I won't say anything to them if you want."

Before Enjolras answered he looked around, making sure only Grantaire was listening, once he was satisfied he looked Taire straight in they eyes.

"I- I just think that… it should mean something, that it shouldn't be rushed or forced. That your comfortable with someone who means something to you, I know it seems old fashioned but that's what I think."

"Wow! You're going to die a virgin!" Taire smirked giving Enjolras a nudge on the shoulder.

"Thanks for understanding."

"I'm here all night long!" Taire teased finishing his drinking in one big swish.

It was now eight o'clock and the party was in full swing, almost the entire population of the school was crowding up the makeshift dance floor. The New Year's Eve parties that the group hosted was an event that was not to be missed, they were the talk of the school every year. If you missed it, you missed everything. Enjolras stood back in the kitchen his first alcoholic drink still full in hand leant against the counter. He could see everything from here, even if he had to squint his eyes to make out who people where. He could see Marius and Cosette making out in the corner, Grantaire and Montaparnasse were center stage raving to the music, bottles in hand. Courfeyrac was attempting and succeeding in chatting up his science partner, what was her name again….Amber? Meanwhile Joly and Musichetta where nowhere to be seen, that only meant one thing, that somewhere upstairs there was a piece of clothing on a door handle. Combeferre and Jehan were too busy making sure the sound systems were working, Enjolras was too focused on what was going on with everyone else he didn't notice the red head that had crept up on him through the crowd.

"Hey Enjy, I didn't know you drink?!" She said seductively, leaning forward ever so slightly making sure Enjolras got full sight of her cleavage.

"I don't, this was forced into my hand." He spoke deadpan, trying to give her the message to kindly leave him alone. She didn't.

"Well, I bet those hands wish to be doing something else. What do you say?" Enjolras didn't even look at her, he felt uncomfortable and uneasy, he just wanted to walk away but he was too squished in by the amount of people in the kitchen. "Come on I know for a fact that the top floor is empty, no one would even know-"

"Can I have you attention please?" For one in his lifetime Enjolras was grateful for Courfeyrac's interruptions, Courfeyrac's booming and drunk voice through one of the two microphones standing on the table.

"Excuse me." He quickly muttered still not making eye contact with the red head and soon he escaped from the kitchen and joined Combeferre and Jehan by the side of the table ready to catch Courfeyrac just in case,

"Now as you all know, our little gang have been putting on these little get together for some years now!"

"WE LOVE YOU!" Came a voice from the sea of people.

"So I am sure that most of you are aware of our New Year's Tradition!" This received a huge roar from the crowd and lots of whistling and 'whoop wooing'! "But for those who are new to this let me explain! When we were just mere second years we thought to ourselves what is the best way to create a positive party atmosphere? The obvious answer is of course KARAOKE! Then some idiot thought- and I'm not naming names!- that singing the High School Musical song 'Start of Something New' would be the greatest thing to do! Of course none of us wanted to do so we put all our names in a hat and on the night some random party goer would pick two out. These would be the two unlucky victims! But then after two years we all started to like watching our mates embarrass themselves. But of course there were rules to this embarrassing event! Rule one: Whose ever name was picked first would sing the role of Troy, and the second had to sing Gabriella! Rule two: No complaints about rule one! Rule three: The two performers must act out the entire song just like the movie, so get prepared to catch one of them nearly falling off the table! We don't want a repeat of last year!" The crowd reacted well to Courfeyrac's explanation, the gang was impressed that he was able to even stay on his feet and talk fluently considering the amount of drinks he had consumed. "And finally rule number four: Once the song ends performers must introduce themselves using their real names! Right now that you're all up to date let's find out who are performers are. Although we all kind of know considering they are the last ones left in the hat! But we must know who is singing who so urm…..Amber my dear would you do the honour?" Courfeyrac jumped down from the kitchen table/stage area with the microphone and hat at the ready, Amber placed her hand into the hat and quickly brought up a piece of folded paper. "And the lucky person playing the role of Troy is….drum roll please….ENJOLRAS! Which means our beautiful Eponine will be of course Gabriella, the two of you get your butts up on that stage and do us proud!"

Enjolras groaned, he had not been looking forward to this, but when he finally saw Eponine he smiled, she was wearing a short red dress that hugged her curves beautifully, he would have told her right there and then that she was the most beautiful thing he had seen but then he remembered where they were. They both climbed onto the stage adjusting the microphone stands,

"You ready Enjy?" Eponine whispered a smirk plastered on her face,

"Nope!" He couldn't help but crack a smile, he saw everyone getting their phones out ready to record this ready to blackmail him with it later on in the year. The rest of the group had merged together in the center of the room, even Joly and Musichetta came back from upstairs to witness this, "Do we even know if Enjolras can sing?!" Cosette asked

The music started playing and Enjolras took a deep breath at a last attempt to calm himself.

"Were about to find out" Montaparnasse chuckled,bringing his own phone out to film.

" _Livin' in my own world_

 _Didn't understand_

 _That anything can happen_

 _When you take a chance_ " He looked over to Eponine who had a smile on her face, his voice was beautiful. Why hadn't she got him to sing before?

"Holy crap he's really good, damn it" Marius teased.

" _I never believed in_

 _What I couldn't see_

 _I never opened my heart_

 _Too all the possibilities, Ohh._ " Her voice was like something he had never heard before, Enjolras just wanted her to take over the whole song just to hear her voice.

" _I know._ "

The crowd watched in awe as for the first time in the years of the karaoke tradition they had a girl and a boy sing it properly. The pairs since the tradition started had been Marius and Combeferre second year saw Cosette and Musichetta take to the stage. With the third year it was Jehan and Joly's lucky day and the last party saw a very drunk Grantaire and Courfeyrac which ended up in Courfeyrac actually falling off the stage, as people forgot about rule three!

" _That something has changed"_

 _"Never felt this way."_

Eponine could help but think of the irony in what they were doing as she sang

" _And right here tonight_!"

And by the look on his face Enjolras saw it too.

" _This could be the start of something' new_

 _It feels so right to be here with you... oh_

 _And now... looking' in your eyes_

 _I feel in my heart_

 _The start of something' new_ "

It was as if it was just them in the room, their voices blended together perfectly, but now of course came the real acting,

" _Now who'd of ever thought that_ "

There were several wolf whistles as Enjolras slipped of his jacket chucking towards Combeferre and Jehan who in turn cheered him on, Eponine holding back her laughter controlled herself,

 _"We'd both be here tonight!"_

 _"Oh yeah, and the world looks so much brighter"_

 _"Brighter, brighter"_

 _"Oh, with you by my side!"_

Right now they didn't care how they looked, with big smiles on their faces Enjolras caught a glimpse of the dimples appearing on her cheeks, she was so beautiful even now with several lights from cameras filming pointed at her making her slightly flushed.

 _"I know... that something' has changed_

 _Never felt this way"_

 _"Oh I know it for real"_

 _"This could be the start of something' new_

 _It feels so right to be here with you... oh_

 _And now... looking' in your eyes_

 _I feel in my heart_

 _The start of something' new"_

Enjolras took the microphone stand and went down on his knees knowing Courfeyrac would kill him if he didn't do this properly.

 _"I never knew that it could happen_

 _'Til it happened to me_

 _Ohhhh, yeah!"_

Eponine had now taken her microphone from her stand but still kept one hand on the stand, their eyes never left each other's.

 _"I didn't know it before_

 _But now it's easy to see_

 _Ohhhhh"_

 _"It the start of something new_

 _It feels so right to be here with you... oh_

 _And now... looking' in your eyes"_

They were so close now they could feel the heat from each other radiating off them Enjolras managed to take away the microphone stand away from her, and of course Eponine had walked back dangerously too close to the edge of the table.

"I feel in my heart

That it's the start of something' new"

The cheering crowd managed to push Eponine back up onto the table, Enjolras also grabbed her arm definitely not wanting a repeat of last year.

" _It feels so right_

 _To be here with you... oh_

 _And now..._

 _Looking' in your eyes_

 _I feel in my heart_

 _The start of something' new"_

 _"The start of something' new"_

 _"The start of something' new!"_

The crowd went wild, clapping, cheering, cat calls! But of course Courfeyrac had managed to shush them for apparently 'the best bit'

"Enjolras!"

"Eponine!" The pair said loudly shaking each others hands.

And yet again the cheering started all over again, both performers jumped down from the table and suddenly they were surrounded by people praising them and of course there was some teasing! Eponine had managed to slip away to get to the kitchen, she needed a strong drink and the vodka that was on the side looked tempting. Leaving Enjolras to be attacked by the crowd.

"Ep that was amazing! Since when do you sing?!" Came a voice from behind her.

"I don't and thanks Parnasse, I was so worried we were going to get booed off the stage!"

"Well if you want my advice out of all the versions I've seen… Yours is the best and not because it was done almost sober, I cant even watch the footage of last years and not cringe!"

"You're just saying that because this time we had the right gender singing the right parts!"

"That is part of it!" Parnasse leant against the counter and looked up at Eponine thinking deeply about how he would come about saying what he needed to say. "So urm I was thinking, that maybe in the new year of course that… I don't know you and me could…you know get a coffee or something." The sudden question made Eponine freeze in shock, was this really happening!

"Parnasse I- I'm sorry, it's not like I wouldn't want to, believe me you're a great guy any girl would be lucky to have you its just- I don't want to spoil what we have already. I like the way we are and I don't want to ruin it." Great cover up! Parnasse just nodded and looked down,

"It's Enjolras isn't it?"

"What?"

"Ep come on I may not be as smart as Combeferre or Cosette but I'm definitely not dumb! I saw the chemistry up on that stage! You may have fooled everyone else here but not me. Now come on, is there something between you, do you want something to happen?"

Eponine could hear her heartbeat in her ears, she suddenly felt the need to vomit, but maybe this was a way to stop feeling guilty about keeping their secret from everybody. Maybe if one of them knew, she would feel better.

"Okay, I will tell you but you have to swear to me that this stays between us! Swear it!"

"I swear!" Montaparnasse stood up straight and raised his right hand up almost like he was on trail.

"Its true okay me and Enjolras, we've been seeing each other, we only kept it a secret from you guys because we knew for a fact that if you knew we would never be able to act normal around each other. You would force us to always sit next to each other or hold hands, just like you did with Marius and Cosette! We work fine the way we are and I don't want us to feel like our relationship is forced or unnatural. Parnasse please don't say anything!"

"How long have you been together?"

"It doesn't matter I just need to know that you won't say!"

"Seriously how long?" Eponine sighed he wasn't giving up.

"Three years!" She was expecting a big reaction but instead she just saw him nod, he patted her on the shoulder and said

"Well, I happy for you both, and don't worry your secret is safe with me!" And with that he walked into the crowd. Eponine smiled and looked over towards Enjolras who was being forced to watch a video Courfeyrac had recorded of their performance. This was going to be a good night.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days and a few headaches later, the new school year had begun and everyones normal routine were back in business. All the snow that had covered the small town of Musain had almost vanished leaving the roads damp and moist with just a slight slimmer whenever the sun hit the water. With the Christmas period now over the school was free of all the tinsel and paper decorations that had been put put all around the building weeks earlier, although if you looked carefully in the right places you could still see small amounts of confetti and glitter from stampede the group had caused on the last day. The energy in the school was sky high with people still raving over how incredible the party was only a few nights ago, apparently Enjolras and Eponine's performance managed to hit over 100,000 likes on YouTube. How the footage found itself on the site Enjolras was not sure although he had a strange feeling it was something to do with Grantaire. And much to Enjolras horror people were still watching it, even when the group first walked into the building the sudden sound of both performers' voices could be heard from a group of huddled teenagers – some giggling and others Cosette described as fangirling!

"Sorry mate but it's not every day we find stuff to use against you! That is of course if we ever need you to do an essay for us." Courfeyrac argued, lightly ruffling Enjolras's hair.

"Since when did you ever think I would even give into blackmail?" Came the stern reaction form a unamused Enjolras.

"Since Combeferre became a genius at video editing which means he can make you sound like a chipmunk and look like one too and have it reloaded in less than three hours!" Marius pointed out innocently but then backed away as he saw the glare coming from Enjolras. Joly found this the right moment in time to change the subject…only slightly.

"Are we not forgetting something else that happened that night also?" After looking at the blank stares coming from the rest of the group as they walked through the halls Joly continued, "Marius here getting so drunk he tried to walk home by climbing over every garden wall… in the opposite direction may I add!" Marius groaned at the memory, the groan however was barely heard with all laughter that had erupted from the rest of the group.

"Hey that is not funny! I fell off the last wall and now have the biggest bruise all over my shoulder and back!" This did not stop the laughter from the group therefore Marius decided to move to another unfortunate victim.

"Alright then who was it that locked herself in the cloakroom after believing it was the bathroom? Even though she has been to Courf's house more than enough times to know what room is what?" Cosette stopped laughing immediately and began to blush as the groups laughter now moved on to her. This had now sparked an embarrassing debate about who had landed themselves in the most outrageous situations at the party which had to be paused and restarted due to the number of lessons and finished finally at lunch. The unfortunate yet amusing events went as followed:

Marius: The wall walk of shame home as well as losing to every girl at arm wrestling!

Cosette: As she wasn't drinking as much as the others just the 'Cloakroom Lock in.'

Combeferre: Leading the entire room in a dance marathon of Gangnam Style and the Cha Cha Slide.

Musichetta: Dropping Joly in their attempt to re-enact the dance to 'I've Had the Time of my Life!'

Joly: If the above is anything to go by, I don't need to say!

Jehan: Passing out and napping in the big New Year's Eve cake.

Grantaire: Finding Courfeyrac's skateboard and attempting to go down the staircase banister!

Courfeyrac: Being at the bottom of the staircase when Grantaire fell and receiving a huge snog on the lips from the flying man!

As much as Eponine wanted to join in on the interesting debate she was too deep in her own thoughts to listen. She really wanted to go and find those two girls what were they names again…Casey and Emily and give them a good talking too. Even if it wasn't intentional playing those kind of tricks on people was horrible enough but in the current situation of Megan Howell still being missing was just downright sick, she was about to leave the table and go search the building but the conversation had now turned into something she had to see until the end.

"So Enjolras we never did find out the result of our little bet did we?" Marius asked with a smug and curious look upon his face, the table once again became quite looking to Enjolras for the good news (which for them was getting their McDonald run) or the bad news for Marius and his bruised back. The small grin on Enjolras's made the whole table hold their breath.

"I'm sorry Marius but I have to disappoint you, and also disappoint you two as well" looking over to both Taire and Courf "but you will not be using my car for a taxi serve and that is that!" The reaction from the table was priceless. Eponine, Cosette, Musichetta and Jehan watched in amusement as Combeferre shook his head laughing, he knew his friend all too well to believe he would ever lose a bet willing. Marius paled at the thought of now being the groups butler and pack mule, Joly just stared at Enjolras with an expression no one could really put a name to, it was a mixture of confusion and amusement but did not look like either of the two emotions. However it was Taire and Courf who had their jaws dropped who reacted the most…creatively and in unison stated

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!" Eponine quickly smacked the pair over the head after the entire courtyard stopped and stared at the group causing an uncomfortable silence for a good few minuets.

"Watch your language assholes."

A very angry and annoyed discussion was quickly put into action at how Courf and Taire had put so much effort into making the party the best way to get him laid, on how they lost hours of sleep and time that would have been better used to study on organising, planning and plotting the perfect night. The pair were in such a disarray wondering what the hell went wrong that night.

xxx New Year's Party 11:50pm xxx

Enjolras was standing in the small gap between Courf's house and the garage, leaning against the wall. He really needed to escape the party just for a while to get some fresh air although he was happy to have finally escape all of the tipsy girls who Courfeyrac kept sending over, being flirted with constantly one after the other can get pretty annoying. The air was bitter cold and nipped at Enjolras skin, so it was a good job one of his Christmas presents was a new coat, it had stated to snow again but only lightly, closing his eyes Enjolras listened to the wind and his breathing. It was calming, relaxing.

"Hey there stranger, knew I would find you here" came his favourite voice. Enjorlas opened his eyes to find Eponine standing opposite him mimicking the same position (arms crossed against her chest, body leaning against the wall).

"Well with everything going on in there I think I deserve a small break, don't you think!" He teased flashing her a small grin.

"Oh yes I saw you brushing off Sophie from your law class just now, what was that the seventh girl of the hour? How will you ever cope until midnight?" she replied placing her hand on her heart and sighing deeply casing a small chuckle to form from Enjolras's lips. It was then he noticed that Eponine was standing there in just her dress, her coat nowhere to be seen, she was shivering already and she had only been out with him for a few seconds. Without hesitation he pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her, pulling her close so that they were chest to chest.

"Here, you'll catch a cold if you don't cover up, then where would you be? Your last cold lasted nearly a month."

"Careful Enjy you're starting to sound like Joly!"

"Am I not allowed to care?"

"Yes, yes you are" Eponine took advantage of her position and leaning forwards catching Enjolras's lips with her own, Enjolras responded bringing a hand up to cup her cheek. The kiss was cut short much to both Eponine and Enjolras's dismay by the sound of Courfeyrac's voice through the speakers.

"Alright everyone here it is FIVE MORE MINUETS! Everyone quickly find someone to snog and don't let them go!"

Enjolras chuckled shaking his head at his friends antics but stopped as he felt Eponine's arms wrap around his neck.

"What are you doing?"

"Doing what our amazing host Courf demanded silly! Finding. Someone. To. Snog!" With every word Eponine leaned closer to Enjolras until she as close as she could be, allowing her forehead to rest against his gently.

"We could get found out you know!" Enjolras found himself saying.

"FUCK I GOT THE TIMING WRONG, SORRY GUYS 20 SECONDS GET SNOGGING!"

"Right now I don't care if anyone sees"

"10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The small distance was filled and Eponine pulled Enjolras closer her lips still moving gently against his, Enjolras reacted immediately his hand tangled within Eponine's hair whilst the other explored her back. There was no battle for dominance, it wasn't rushed or sloppy. Soon enough Eponine found herself being pushed back against the wall, allowing her own hands to explore, all the way down his chest making sure every muscle was found until they landed on the small of Enjolras back. Soon enough the pair parted for air but they did not move from where they were, Enjolras nuzzled Eponine's neck lightly placing small kisses on her shoulder, casing Eponine to giggle slightly.

"Happy New Year to you too!" she teased, after feeling Enjolras smile against her skin she spoke again. "You know… I have a free house tonight, Mum won't be home until the morning, you could stay over if you wanted, we don't have to do anything I know that were not ready for-."

"I think we are" His interruption caught Eponine off guard and she looked up at him with a small smile

"Really?"

"Yeah I do, I mean if you want to wait I totally under-"

"I want to" Now it was Enjolras's turn to be caught off guard, it was a rare sight but Eponine couldn't help but think was adorable.

"You do realise this means I will be losing a certain bet" Enjolras teased. Eponine just chuckled,

"Well technically it wouldn't count as getting 'laid' because it's me" she winked. "And what they don't know won't hurt them, after all I bought a new History book in the sales and I think it's too heavy for me to carry so I will need a pack mule named Marius to do my heavy lifting!" Enjolras rolled his eyes, only Eponine would buy school stuff with her Christmas money.

"Okay then, let's go." The couple managed to grab their belongings and leave the party without being spotted and walked hand in hand back to Eponine's home, smiles never leaving their faces.

The whole town of Musain was an explosion of colours and sounds, fireworks being set off everywhere and music from numerous parties bounced off the roads and pavements. People were out in the streets dancing and squealing in excitement of the new year, making resolutions loudly such as 'getting a boy/girl friend' 'never drinking again'. There was so much going on throughout the town that nobody noticed the black truck that was driving down the back roads of the town heading up in the direction of the school. Nor were the two figures who were sat in the vehicle wearing dark clothing that covered their faces.

xxx end of flashback xxx

The day ended just as quickly as it started and soon enough the school car park and bus lanes were filled with children running around trying to miss their lifts. Enjolras had promised Taire, Courf, Jehan, Combeferre and Eponine a lift home and so was busy sorting out the seats in his car whilst the small group watched on helpfully.

"Feel free to help at any point guys!" came the muffled, annoyed sound of Enjolras from the backseat.

"Sorry Enj but you look like you're doing such an excellent job already" Jehan teased, resulting in a high five from Grantaire and then proceeded to carry on his conversation with Combeferre about the new Marvel film. Eponine wasn't really paying attention, she was too busy looking around at the students try to find the two faces she desperately needed to see and scold. Scanning the area was such a pain with all the students running back and forth, getting in and out of cars/buses, even those on their bikes were fast, but soon a face caught Eponine right off guard. The caretaker was stood in front of one of the many fire exits staring right at her, after immediately making eye contact Eponine quickly looked away. Even in the daylight he still looked terrifying, the scars on his face were more visible and the black leather gloves matched the black winter coat the man was wearing, but what made Eponine most uncomfortable was the shovel in his hands.

"Hey look, old man Jenkins has come out to play" observed Grantaire moving closer to Eponine, "I wonder how he even got a job working around children looking like that? I mean he looks like he belongs in a scary movie!"

"Yeah, I wonder how to." muttered Eponine turning her attention away from caretaker Jenkins back to the car situation. The rest of the gang came over quickly to say their goodbyes and sorting out later plans when suddenly the entire car park was silenced by the one sound that would haunt off of their dreams for years to come.

A scream. A loud, ear piercing wail that sounded like it did not belong to any human being. Before anyone could move the owner of the sound appeared, it was a young boy. It was obvious that he was crying the tears were streaming down his face as he continued to scream and wail, before he could run into the road onto the oncoming traffic Enjolras ran out and grabbed him back onto the pavement holding him steadily by the shoulders. People started to slowly crowd around, curious to what was happening, wondering what had made this young boy act this way.

"Woah, woah! What's the matter? What's happened?" The boy wouldn't respond (or rather he couldn't respond) but through his crying and trembling body he managed to point towards the school field. Enjolras looked over where he was pointing and nodded. "Okay, okay don't worry." He looked towards Cosette, Cosette in turn nodded knowing exactly what Enjolras had 'said' she quickly rushed over and wrapped the boy in her arms speaking soothing words into his ears in an attempt to calm him down.

"Ferre, Joly come on let's check it out. Rest of you stay here make sure everything's alright and someone get a teacher!" Enjolras knew that a situation like this must be serious, no boy would be in the state he was in just for something minor. The rest of the gang nodded and acted quickly to stop any other kids going towards the field, Grantaire ran in the direction of the school to grab an adult out of the building as the caretaker had disappeared suddenly. Meanwhile Enjolras, Combeferre and Joly ran over to the back of the school field, over the Christmas period it had grown wild the grass was up to their knees so it was easy to miss your footing and fall into the schools small lake. The three of them split up to look around the area, each of them looking around frantically seating for something, when suddenly another scream was heard only it wasn't Combeferre or Joly or even Enjolras.

"EP!"

The three ran over to where Eponine was now standing frozen to the spot. Her hands covering her mouth to stop herself from crying out loud. As soon as Enjolras and the other two reached her they quickly saw what caused both Eponine and the young boy to scream at. From this point on the four people standing in front of the lake, the school, the town of Musain would never be the same again.

A body, half dumped in the cold water and half on damp, muddy land. Joly looked away as soon as he saw the blood feeling like he was going to vomit. It was the most gruesome sight any of them had ever seen, the body was stripped bare and many large gashes covered every limb. Enjolras had to catch Eponine who had nearly fallen backwards due to her trembling legs, he wrapped his arms around and pulled her close making sure that she too wasn't looking at the horrific sight. Combeferre walked slowly towards the body.

"Ferre what the hell are you doing?!" Joly hissed

"We need to know who it is… If- If its Megan." Combeferre looked over to Enjolras who nodded in agreement, Eponine and Joly finding the courage to look down at the possible missing teen. Once Combeferre reached the poor being he knelt down brushing the hair out of the dead girl's face.

"Is it her?" Enjolras called.

"No, I don't - I don't recognise her"

Eponine looked closer to where Combeferre was kneeling, suddenly realisation hit her. That face. She knew who it was!

"Oh my god! It's Casey!"


	6. Chapter 6

The next hour went by so fast it was almost a blur, the piercing sounds of police and ambulance sirens mixed with the cries of young children who knew the unfortunate victim filled the air. The car park was full of worried and panicking parents that were coming and going from the school grounds at almost criminal speeds to make sure their child was as far away from the crime site as possible. The site itself was being tapped off from the public by almost the entire Musain Police Department, the body had been removed from the lake and had been respectfully sent off to be examined by professionals and now the officers where scanning the area for clues and interviewing any students that wished to speak about the discovery. As for the four who had discovered Casey, they had been ushered back into the school before they even had a chance to resist. Now sitting in an empty classroom, several police officers had accompanied them as they waited to be been too. None of them had said a word since the discovery, the image of the young girl half floating in the frozen water still engraved into their minds, it was even hard to make eye contact with each other. How where they meant to feel, act or even start a conversation? Eponine just kept her head down, eyes closed trying to think of anything that wasn't the pale open eyed face of the young girl she knew. For the past hour she had clung onto Enjolras's hand and wouldn't let go, needing something solid and real to keep her in reality, not that Enjolras would ever let go of her. He too was in a state of shock, he knew this whole missing child case wouldn't end well but never in a million years did he ever think it would result in a death. Even if the girl wasn't Megan Howell the idea that a young girl can be found dead on school grounds was a horrifying thought, gripping Eponine's hand tighter Enjolras stayed deep in thought. Joly's head was going though the motions, he was looking around the room trying to focus on anything that would distract him from the events of the past hour, whether that be the posters on the walls, the words scratched into the school desks or even the patches of black mould he saw across the ceiling. In any other situation he would exclaim out loud his concern about the dangerous of black mould if not attended to quickly but for some reason he could not get the words out of his mouth, his body frozen in shock. Combeferre however was the most calm out of the four, yes he too was shocked and saddened by the discovery of young Casey but what Combeferre could understand was how did they not know Casey was missing, at least missing long enough to be brutally beaten and killed the way she was. He was almost certain that they would uncover the face of poor Megan. The young man looked over to the two officers standing by the door and observed them, they too looked a mixture of shock and confusion, maybe they too believed when the call for a dead body was called in they expected to see Miss Howell. He glanced over to his friends observing them also, he noticed Joly's eyes darting back and forth across the room, he watched Eponine focussing on her breathing as well as also noticing the joint hands of two of his best friends. He was about to break the tension in the air but before he could the classroom door opened.

The group of adults that entered the room went as followed, Mr Smith the head teacher of the school, detective inspector Javert and Jean Valjean, it was at this point Combeferre and Enjolras shared a quick glance at each other both thinking the exact same thing. 'When did Javert get back to town?', and lastly Madam Thenardier, who quickly rushed to her daughters side and geld her close.

"Children, I am sorry to keep you waiting especially after the horrific sight you have just witnessed but we had to attended to other matters more quickly." Mr Smith stated bluntly, he was never a man of compassion or emotion for that matter so the children expected nothing less. "I am sure you are familiar DI Javert and Mr Valjean here considering you are friends with their daughter so I will leave you all to it, I still have yet to inform the school board about this whole situation so if you will excuse me." And with that Mr Smith quickly departed with the two officers, leaving the seven other people in the room. Mrs Thenardier was the first to speak.

"Ive talked to all of your mothers, and although they are worried sick I have told them that I will personally bring you all home thats why they not here with us. I know this is tough you guys but I need you to listen to what Di Javert has to say." Her words were calm and more soothing than the bluntness of Mr Smith's which helped Eponine look her mother in the eye for the first time since she entered the room. Madam Thenardier moved to sit behind the kids as DI Javert slowly moved towards them to sit in front of them.

"Children," his deep gruff voice pulled the kids out of their own thoughts "I know this is very hard to understand, children your age should have never endure what you have today." He was trying to be sensitive that much was clear, they had all heard the stories from Cosette of 'bad cop Javert' who would leave suspects shaking in their shoes after five minuets of being questioned, but that was with full group adults who were rapists, murders and kinds of evil. These were just four teenagers who had stumbled upon one of the classmates brutally murdered.

"Im going to let you tell us, in your own words, what happened this afternoon between the hours of 3-4pm, you can take as much time as you need. Just just so you are aware, I will be taking notes and no one will interrupt you." And with that the floor was theirs, immediately both Joly and Combeferre looked to Enjolras to speak and with a sigh Enjolras being to speak.

"It was the end of school, so everyone was walking to their cars, I had offered a ride home to these guys so we were sorting the seats out when suddenly there was this scream…" Enjolras went on to tell the inspector of how the four of them discovered the body and the short aftermath of the find before the police where called in. Just as he said Javert was sat making notes, nodding along to the story at certain bits making it clear to them that he was indeed following the tale. It wasn't until the Enjolras was done speaking when Javert took a moment to re read his notes and composed himself until asking,

"I don't not mean to sound disrespectful but answer me this if you can, why did the four of you decide to run off into a possibly dangerous situation instead of going to an adult first? What if God forbid the person responsible for this tragedy was still there at the crime scene?"

"The kid was terrified and wasn't able to say anything we didn't know what was even happening, all we knew was that there was no teacher to alert outside so we just acted on impulse. At the time were where the only senior students on site." Combeferre spoke, a little offended by the statement, of course they were going to do something in that situation, instead of run the other way to find an elder who probably wouldn't even do anything. "Besides we did send a friend of ours to find an adult, we told Grantaire to run back in to find someone."

"That you did, but you still ran into the direction of a crime scene not knowing where the culprit was still there, not only endangering yourself but the others around you. And to to it all off contaminating the crime scene all four of your DNA will be either on or around the body of Miss Jones with could halt this whole investigation." The four teens looked up in shock, they completely forgot about that, not only did they run into a possible murder scene but Combeferre even touched young Casey's face so that they could identify her.

"Lets not scare the children now, there reasons for doing what they did are reasonable. after all they are not trained police officers and I am sure they wanted answers just as much as we all do." Came the gentle voice of Jean Valjean, it was the first time he had made himself known to the whole room and the kids were grateful for it, Javert took another small moment before nodding in agreement leaning back into his chair. Valjean took this silence to ask a few questions of his own taking the empty seat in front of Eponine, giving her a small smile before asking

"So Eponine dear, we now know that it was you who identified young Casey, did you know her well?"

"No, not really I only met her once" her mouth was dry, words struggling to come out of her her grip on Enjolras became tighter as she continued, "before school ended for the holidays she came up to me needing help to find her friend, we didn't find her in the end our guess was that she just went to class without her anyway that was it." The three boys looked at her oddly, that wasn't the story she had told them, why wasn't she saying the whole story, they didn't say anything not wanting to get her in trouble so they just nodded instead.

"We just assumed it was Megan" Joly quickly added

"I would understand your assumption, considering the fact Miss Howell is still registered as missing, what we now need to do is find links between the two girls and trace Miss Jone's last moments over the holidays. I believe that it would be best of you four to now head off home and take some time for yourself I know it was been a stressing day. I have taken the statements you have written earlier for me to read through and will need reach out to each of you individually later on incase of any further questions. Thank you." After Javert's final words Madam Thenardier took this as her cue to usher the kids out to the room, before leaving the room Eponine glanced over to Jean Valjean one last time and noticed his worried face. Being the head of the community it made sense that he would too feel distressed about the whole situation it was just hard for him to show it. The need to look strong and calm in times of chaos and distressing times was just apart of his character, a trait that allowed the man to be trusted in leading the town in the direction he knew the community needed to go in to stay strong and stable. With a reassuring smile Eponine nodded her head in gratitude and left with the rest of the group, until just Javert and Valjean were left in the room.

There was a small comfortable silence while Javert went over his notes as Valjean watched from the window as Madam Thenardier drove away from the school with the four kids in tow, he knew these kids all too well, he saw them often hanging out and studying with his Cosette and has grown quite attached to the large group of friends his daughter has.

"Thank you for coming up and taking over this case, were only used to a few shoplifters and kids mucking around, I don't think our police department has ever dealt with a situation like this in nearly fifty years."

"It's no problem, we were getting nowhere with the The Patron-Minette case as its seems they have disappeared off the face of the earth so the case was taken away from my team. In any case this is my home and we will find out what is going on. To loose a child that young, I cannot imagine how her parents are feeling right now."

"Im going to check in on them tomorrow, give them tonight to have some space and grieve, do we have any information as of now?"

"So far, all that we know is that death was caused by a blunt force trauma to the back of the head so death would have been instant." There was no tone in either mans voice, they just wanted to get the whole conversation over and done with.

"What about the scars on her body? Surely they must have been done before death?"

"No, we have just been informed that those slashes to the victims body and limbs where done after death."

"Jesus…weapons?"

"From looking at all the notes form the medical officers first estimations, were looking at large bulky object, metal possible sharp edges."

"Something like a shovel?"

"Something exactly like a shovel" Javert agreed. He too wished to get this conversation, in fact this whole case over and done with too, while he loved the thrill of an investigation when it involves the murder of a child he rather wished he was doing paperwork. "Ive seen statements from the kids, that Grantaire especially that the caretaker was spotted on campus holding a shovel, then suddenly when all hell broke loose he was nowhere to be found. I want to speak with him immediately."

The town was quite that evening, barely anyone was walking about the streets. Families stayed inside keeping their children close, today would be a day that would not be forgotten quickly. Madam Thenardier had closed the cafe early and had closed the blinds to give the group inside some privacy, the parents of the friendship group had decided it would be best to stay together and take the evening to let the day sink in after all most of their kids had seen some truly horrific things that day. The parents knew that they needed each other right now, both the kids and the parents. While the parents sat together sharing their concerns and worries over coffee with just hints of bandy, the kids where also huddled together although not much had been said.

"You never think this would happen would you, I mean you see it in movies and tv shows but when it happens for real.." Marius was the one to break the silence unable to stand the awkward tension in the group,

"I really thought it was going to be Megan" Combeferre said bluntly, "I mean it had to have been her, we didn't know about another missing person. It makes no sense."

"What I don't understand is why you lied Ep." The group looked at Joly in shock as he made his quiet statement,

"Excuse me?" Came Eponine's shaky response, not really wanting to be having this conversation at that particular moment, she saw the faces the three boys gave her after her talk with Javert so she knew this would be coming sooner or later.

"You didn't tell Javert about the whole story, you didn't mention the fact that one minuet she was with you then suddenly she had disappeared, what if that was relevant."

"Joly I don't think he wanted to know about some sick prank a couple of first years decided to play on me, I don't see how that would be relevant." Her tone came out slightly more aggressive than Eponine intended as Joly hung his head in response deciding not to say anything else. "Im sorry Joly, I'm just, I don't know this whole day has been the day from hell." Joly gave a small smile accepting her apology and turned to comfort Musichetta who looking at all the news articles about the incident on her phone, already some of the big news outlets had taken the story and blown it out of proportion.

"He's right though Ep, maybe you should have mentioned it." Surprisingly Cosette had joined the conversation, while her dads where dealing with all the immediate dealings of the investigation she would be staying with Eponine and Madam Thenardier for the night. "Even if you don't think it would be much help at all you shouldn't leave anything out about the last time you saw Casey, even the smallest detail can be a clue."

"Your right, next time your dad comes to see us I will tell him I promise." Silence came to the group again, even though they were not talking they took comfort in one and other, Courfeyrac had returned from behind the coffee bar with a few packets of biscuits and crisps for the group to munch on while still in between Grantaire and Combeferre,

"So if it wasn't her, what do we think has happened to Megan?" To hear such a serious a statement from the prankster of the group sent shivers down the groups spine, Courfeyrac may be a joker but he knew when the time was right.

"I don't know but I have a bad feeling about this whole situation." Enjolras muttered, he couldn't help but remember the slashes on Casey's body, he remember about how unusual and familiar they looked but he could put his finger on it.

"You think both Megan and Casey are linked somehow?" Combeferre asked,

"Maybe, I'm sure we will find out soon enough now that Javert is taking over the case."

"I think we should take a moment to remember Casey, and Megan even if we still don't know what is happening." Grantaire spoke up raising his mug of coffee, "I know most of us barely knew Casey but we all knew-know Megan." The rest of the group joined Grantaire in raising their cups and glasses, it was Jehan next who spoke.

"Those we love don't go away, they walk beside us everyday. Unseen , unheard, but always near. Still loved, still missed… Casey and Megan."

"Casey and Megan."


End file.
